The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a plan to spend NT$300 billion (US$9.27 billion) in the next 10 years to fund innovations that would combine the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems and chips.
The “Chip-driven Taiwan Industrial Innovation Plan” was briefed to Cabinet members by the National Science and Technology Council and approved at the weekly Cabinet meeting.
“With the rise of generative AI systems, chips have driven the development of global technology industry and have become motivation for businesses seeking innovation,” Cabinet spokesperson Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) cited Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) as saying, adding that the development of chips would be the key technology for the “next industrial revolution.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
The council told the Cabinet that the plan is to be enforced through cooperation with officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the National Development Council, Lin said.
The plan also lays out strategies to meet the rising challenges in developing next-generation chip technology, Lin said.
The government is to allocate a total of NT$300 billion from next year to 2033 to develop chip technology, with NT$12 billion budgeted for next year, Lin said.
The council at a news conference after the meeting said that the plan would ensure that Taiwan controls key technologies to design advanced chips, and enhances its design capabilities for such chips and accelerates heterogeneous integration of chip designs and interfaces.
The funding would be used to speed up the production of non-silicon-based wafers, as well as the development of chips smaller than 1 nanometer, 3D chip stacking technology and heterogeneous integrated packaging, the council said.
The funding would also be used to develop energy-saving applications with high computing power and frequency, it said.
“For next year’s budget plan, about NT$8 billion would be used to train and attract talent, while NT$4 billion would be used to attract overseas investment in projects combining the use of generative AI systems and chips,” National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) said.
Separately, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior have stepped up their intelligence-gathering efforts to investigate any potential interference in the presidential and legislative elections in January through underground gambling and dissemination of fake news, Lin said.
The announcement was made after the Criminal Investigation Bureau on Wednesday raided a gambling operation in Changhua County operated by two Taiwanese brothers, who solicited funds over Facebook to bet on the presidential election.
Meanwhile, people who were allegedly affiliated with independent presidential hopeful Terry Gou (郭台銘) have been questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of purchasing personal information to use in Gou’s signature drive to appear on the presidential ballot.
“Police and prosecutors are scrutinizing vote-buying incidents reported nationwide. We are respecting investigations at the judicial system and do not have comments on any specific case,” Lin said.
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